Pages

Thursday, December 16, 2010

In Our TimeDaoism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ancient religion and philosophy, Daoism. Said to date from the 6th century BC when a wise man called Laozi wrote the 'Scripture of the Way and its Power', the 'Daodejing'; Daoism plays a significant role in Chinese culture in general and is now one of the most influential religions worldwide. Melvyn is joined by Tim Barrett, Professor of East Asian History at SOAS; Martin Palmer, Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education and Culture; and Hilde De Weerdt,Fellow and Tutor in Chinese History at Pembroke College, University of Oxford.
(review, feed)

KQED ForumAIDS Breakthrough
A team of doctors in Berlin say they've cured a man of HIV/AIDS with a stem cell transplant. While AIDS researchers say the exact procedure is unlikely to result in many cures, some are celebrating the findings as a huge leap in research that could lead to a cure.
(review, feed)

The China History PodcastThe Empress Wu Zetian REBROADCAST
Today we rebroadcast our July 19, 2010 program on the Tang empress Wu Zetian. Initially a concubine to the second Tang emperor and wife of the third, she later went on to reign as Empress of China in her own right. In this week's episode we look at her colorful life. Then next episode we will resume our dynasty overview in 705 after the death of Wu Zetian.
(review, feed)

Most of the time, in most places of the world, I think, women are still discriminated against. The inequality mostly still is at the expense of women, yet, in the TED Talk I embed below, Hanna Rosin presents data of the rise of women in the modern age, in the modern world and the extent seems to not go towards equality, but rather show a flipped reality, in which women are the better performers, the better earners, the ones in power. And Rosin seems to also ask: was this what Feminism was aiming for? (feed)

I have been aware of some elements of what Rosin makes visible. For example, I have been seeing for decades that there is an especially underpriviliged chanceless class of uneducated poor young men. These days, for a man to be without education is worse than for women. Rosin adds the next nail to the coffin: men have been underperforming in the educational system for a long time. Consequently, this class of male drop-outs is only growing. Consequnetly, as Rosin has made me realize, our culture will change and within it our stereotypes of men and woman. We both fear that the next inequality will be just as bad as the other and most of all worse than the equality we had hoped for.

A last point to make is about this show being a videocast. I prefer podcast; my listening time lies especially in moments when my hands and eyes need to be somewhere else. Ted Talks are great videos to look at, but this specific talk I tested listening while not looking and there is very little you miss. I have experienced that this goes for many videocasts and so, if you are inclined like me towards audio alone, do not discard the vodcasts off the cuff.

The most elite of the podcast reviewers (and most especially in the History genre). We use Anne is a Man! as a sort of barometer for how we are doing. Anne is a Man can assume the role of THE podcast reviewer on line; no one does it as well as he does.